Families that work together in a family business have the potential for experiencing even higher amounts of conflict than the "typical" family, whose members go off to different jobs every day. There are a number of factors that influence the level of conflict in family businesses, some of which include; parent/child family issues that even adult children carry with them, as they work with or for a parent in "the business." The effect of these relationships on the functioning of the business can, and often does, result in poor decision making, higher than "normal" levels of stress on all involved, and basically, a less than ideal level of functioning of the organization.

Family relationships can also be strained by work related issues causing higher levels of conflict, both in the workplace and home. A sad fact is that numerous extended familiy relationships have been damanged to the point that they never speak to one another again for years, if ever. Often, these are families that originally chose to work together because they had good relationships and enjoyed being together.

It can be very tough to overcome the obstacles that face families working together and come out successfully. But the rewards can be outstanding, and are likely worth the challenge if the business and family issues are anticipated and planned for intelligently. In the future, we will be bringing you a number of articles about working families. Please watch this page for new articles. We will also be adding a newsletter that you can subscribe to in the near future.

Thank You,
Michael Newcomb